Sloppy Defensive Play Sinks the Blue Jays

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Boston’s Xander Bogaerts headed for home after a throwing error by Toronto’s Mark Buehrle in the fourth.CreditJohn E. Sokolowski/USA Today Sports, via Reuters

By The Associated Press

Sept. 20, 2015

TORONTO — The Toronto Blue Jays do not have much time to dwell on their dismal defensive performance on Sunday. Come Monday night, the Blue Jays, who lead the American League East by three games, have a showdown with the Yankees to focus on.

The Blue Jays matched a season high with three errors, two of which led to runs Sunday in a 4-3 loss to the last-place Boston Red Sox.

“We’ve been playing outstanding defense, so we were due for a clunker like this,” said pitcher Mark Buehrle, a four-time Gold Glove winner whose errant relay throw in fourth inning led to Boston’s first run. “We’ve just got to come back tomorrow and be ready for the Yankees.”

In the eighth, Pablo Sandoval came home on a sacrifice fly by Jackie Bradley Jr. after reaching on a fielding error by reliever Brett Cecil.

Center fielder Kevin Pillar made an accurate throw to the plate on Bradley’s fly ball, but the short hop skipped past catcher Dioner Navarro as Sandoval scored standing up.

“Unfortunately, a lot of things didn’t go our way,” Navarro said. “But we’ve got to go through that adversity. We’ll be all right. We’re right where we want to be.”

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Boston’s Pablo Sandoval scored the winning run in the eighth inning on a sacrifice fly by Jackie Bradley Jr. after reaching on a fielding error.CreditVaughn Ridley/Getty Images

The Yankees played Sunday night against the Mets and were to travel to Toronto to begin a three-game series on Monday.

The Red Sox went into the weekend in last place and took two of three games at Rogers Centre. Boston rallied from an early 3-0 deficit, handing Toronto just its third series defeat since July 30.

“New York is a new team,” Navarro said. “We’re just trying to win every series we get.”

Rich Hill (1-0) struck out 10 in his first major league win since July 14, 2013, when he pitched in relief for Cleveland.

Hill gave up three runs and seven hits in seven innings. He did not issue a walk and was one shy of his career high for strikeouts.

Hill, who also struck out 10 at Tampa Bay last week, became the first pitcher in Red Sox history to strike out at least 10 in each of his first two Boston starts.

“He’s been really special these past two outings,” Bradley said. “It’s fun playing behind him, that’s for sure.”

The score was tied, 3-3, when Cecil (3-5) failed to field Sandoval’s short grounder to open the eighth. Mark Lowe came in to pitch, and Sandoval took second on a groundout and then moved to third on a single by Sandy Leon.

Lovullo acknowledged that Boston had been fortunate to take the lead when Pillar’s throw eluded Navarro.

The unearned run ended Cecil’s scoreless innings streak at 26. He had not allowed a run since June 21 against Baltimore.

Noe Ramirez worked the eighth, and Robbie Ross Jr. finished for his fourth save and second in two days. Ross struck out pinch-hitter Justin Smoak to end it, stranding the tying run at second.

Navarro hit a two-run homer in the second, and Ben Revere added a run-scoring single later in the inning.

Xander Bogaerts hustled to score in the Boston fourth. Running from first on an infield grounder by David Ortiz, Bogaerts kept going to third when it was left unguarded by the shift, then scored when Buehrle threw past third baseman Josh Donaldson.

The Red Sox tied it on a two-out, bases-loaded single by Travis Shaw in the fifth, an inning that was prolonged when Toronto could not turn a double play on a grounder to short by Mookie Betts. Second baseman Cliff Pennington’s relay throw pulled Chris Colabello off the bag at first. Four batters later, Shaw delivered the tying single.

Buehrle, who has won just once in six starts, allowed three runs and eight hits in six innings.

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page D3 of the New York edition with the headline: Red Sox Slip Past Blue Jays, Tightening Race in A.L. East. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe